If you're near the downtown Tucson area, tune in right now to listen to our eclectic lineup of exclusively local musicians! KMKR (or K-Maker Radio) is your radio station. That's right. It's yours. Much like how Xerocraft Hackerspace puts otherwise expensive, large, hard to locate tools at your disposal to build whatever you want, KMKR puts a real life radio station in your hands! You, your family and your friends can produce content that will air on an actual FM radio station to fellow Tucsonans!
KMKR is an LPFM radio station. LPFM stands for Low Power FM, meaning that the 50W tower will broadcast in a roughly three mile radius, which includes much of downtown Tucson and the University of Arizona. Though our reach is small our coverage is prime. The Pima County Public Library estimates about 285,000 people who live, work and school in the downtown area are all within reach of our signal.
K-Maker Radio 99.9 FM is all about the maker community and culture that is uniquely Tucson. We want to give voices to local builders, hackers, artists, musicians and engineers to spread their ideas over the airwaves and the internet.
You can! We're looking for all kinds of content that Tucsonans can produce: music, talk, discussion, debate, radio dramas, the avant-garde. Live or pre-recorded. Anything and everything (though cursing and indecency are mostly disallowed by the FCC).
Have you ever wanted your own radio show? Sure, there's KXCI. But the waiting line there is long and few volunteers ever make it on the air! KMKR is new and hungry for content. We want to be unique and different from the other stations. And being a nonprofit, we are freed to be more experimental and less focused on mass appeal.
KMKR is looking for volunteers to run the station as well as DJ and create content.
For the most up to date information about KMKR, follow us and like us on our Facebook page.
Would you like to become a DJ or create content for air to downtown Tucson? KMKR is a 24 hours, seven days a week station, which means we have 168 hours of space for locally made shows and music.
The first step is to fill out our questionnaire and tell us more about you and your idea.
BUT bear in mind that there are some things you can't do on the radio. And it's not just restricted to the seven dirty words you can't say on TV. Though we do have a First Amendment right to free speech in this country, courts have ruled that indecency can be “channeled”, though not outright banned. The FCC has chosen to “channel” indecency by disallowing it for for most of the day. The FCC's indecency standards are complex and unclear. Aside from curse words, the FCC does not allow any language or material that describes sexual or excretory activities or organs. And it doesn't stop there.
When a station gets into trouble with the FCC over indecency laws, the station, the DJ, even guests can be fined. A single fine could pull us off the air permanently. We take this very seriously. That's why all DJs and content creators will be taught about FCC indecency as well as how to use our equipment. If you have no equipment of your own to create your show, you can borrow ours.
There are, however, certain times of the day when music with explicit content can be played on the air without bother from the FCC. These times are known as Safe Harbor. The official FCC Safe Harbor takes place from 10pm to 6am local time. During Safe Harbor, music and other content of an illicit nature can be aired. But the Safe Harbor protections of the music or recorded content DOES NOT apply to the DJ. Though the music can be raunchy during Safe Harbor, the DJ cannot.
KMKR has taken an extra step to protect ourselves from indecency violations by restricting our Safe Harbor hours to 11pm to 5am.
To learn more about indecency and the FCC, read the Introduction to Indecency by GSB Law.
Xerocraft is a place for people who like to work with their hands so it's not a big surprise that some are less interested in the on-air aspect of KMKR and more interested in the community aspect of keeping a radio station that serves up local content on the air or working on the equipment we use to share our signal with downtown Tucson.
We want to hear from you, too! Please contact us using the contact form below (located under "Contact Us: I want to get involved with KMKR").
We're always looking for music, spoken-word and other content created by Tucsonans or regional artists. If you have an album you'd like to get on the air at KMKR, visit our Donate Music Page. Please warn us if you're aware of any indecent content (see the FCC's factors on indecency above) in the album.
Perhaps you have some radio equipment that you're not using and you think we can. If that's the case, please tell us about it. KMKR is run by Xerocraft, which is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit so all donations, including material donations, can be deducted on your income taxes.
We also have a wish list of equipment we're looking for. If you're not comfortable with outright donating equipment we can arrange a loan, instead.
If you have an equipment or materials you want to donate or loan, visit our Donation/Loan Equipment Page.
Yes, please! As a nonprofit, we survive on the kindness of the public. To make an online donation to KMKR, visit our Donation Page.
Thank you!
As a 501(c)(3) LPFM station, we are not allowed to run commercials. However, we are allowed to do underwriting campaigns for local businesses or organizations. Our underwriting campaigns are very similar to ads you see after the introduction and ending of a show on PBS.
After purchasing an underwriter package from KMKR we will produce underwriting ads that will air on our station. The ads include the name of your organization, its description, a method of contact (your phone number, address, website, email address, etc) along with a thank you for supporting KMKR. If you're interested in underwriting for KMKR, please visit our Underwriting Page for more information and to contact us.
We hold regular meetings as we get the station on firmer ground. Check our community calendar for the next meeting, and contact us below to let us know you want to attend!
You can also check out the KMKR handbook for broadcasters or read about the FCC indecency rules.
And of course you can like us and follow us on our Facebook page.
You can also find our site listed at RadioGuide.fm